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Nabaztag WiFi Rabbit - Better the 2nd Time Around?
Posted by John Goulden Categories: Internet, Wireless / WiFi,
You’ve heard about the Ambient Orb, which allows you to see information based upon the weather, the stock market, your horoscope, etc. Well, “shhhhhhhhh”...now we’re
hunting
watching wabbits. Meet Nabaztag, the oddly named Wi-Fi Rabbit which works like the Ambient Orb by glowing, but can also wriggle it’s ears as an indicator. Since this is the second incarnation of the product, a few new features were in order and the ability to sing and talk were added. Apparently quite popular in it’s home country of France, the critter has yet to make it’s way across the big pond. Only time will tell if we will be inundated in singing and glowing rabbits.
Read More 
| Violet Nabaztag via Shiny Shiny
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For those of you who can’t bear to be separated from the Internet, Opera has released the official version of their browser designed for smartphones - Opera Mini. Mini has been in beta testing in Europe for some time, and in December was released to the rest of the world’s software guinea pigs. Unlike Internet Explorer, which ships with most smartphones, or Opera’s other browser for the mobile market, Opera Mobile, this new browser relies on Opera’s backend servers. The servers convert the website requested into a format better suited for a phone’s tiny screen, and compress the graphics and other data so the page loads more quickly. Testing by this author on a Cingular 2125 confirms that pages load much faster than IE and are easier to navigate as well. Opera Mini has a handful of phones it is “certified” to work on, but should work on any Java-equipped smartphone. Two versions are available - a Basic edition with a small memory footprint, and an Advanced version that consumes more memory but delivers page icons, font options, better-looking menus, and smoother scrolling.
Read More | PCWorld
Google Buys In (Or Sells Out?) to Chinese Government Censorship
Posted by Kristin Wenzel Categories: Corporate News, Internet, Rumors,
The People’s Republic of China. It’s the world’s most populous country, run by a government bent on censorship. Expected by many to emerge as what has been called an “Internet Goldmine” in the next decade, the country already has in excess of 100 million web surfers, a number expected to grow exponentially. Now, in a move that leaves a lot of people shaking their heads, Google has bought in, agreeing to censor results that the Chinese government finds “offensive” in order to obtain a foothold in the rapidly growing market. Or, rather, it’d appear that Google decided to sell out - not only will results be censored, they’ll also provide “government sanctioned” news and media.
Way to go, Google - I guess money really is what matters in the end, rather than integrity or the free exchange of information.
Read More | KOMO News
Latest Gear Live Videos
Normally we like to keep you interested in reading news about the latest gadgets and gizmos strolling about the town. However, sometimes something in the software world comes along that piques our interest. Today we decided to share this unique new twist on an old idea. If you are an RSS fiend - like most of us at Gear Live - you may have literally hundreds of feeds coming which you couldn’t possibly attempt to read on any given day. Greg Reinacker has come up with a way to “help” you decide on what entries to read based on what images are included in the feed. This “image only” aggregator will consecutively post images embedded in your RSS feeds and you can pick and choose what you want to read based solely on the images you see. It’s not perfect yet, but a good idea nonetheless. You will have to have a Newsgator account if you want to try it.
Read More | Greg Reinaker’s Weblog
Live From CES: Larry Page Keynote Address Liveblog
Posted by Chris Cardinal Categories: Accessories, CES, CES 2006, Corporate News, Internet,
We’re live at the Larry Page keynote for Google. We’ll do our best to make note of the cool stuff…
4:15 Very cool Google Earth demonstration video, featuring a bunch of National Geographic pictures overlayed, showing sheep and such. And the Grand Canyon.
4:20 Google’s Larry Page has come on stage
on Stanley, the winning DARPA entry.
4:22 Larry’s showing us the results of a collaborative effort with VW to develop Google Earth into a car dashboard… Perhaps this is the beginning of Google in embedded devices…
Now, he’s showing us Google Maps on a live cell phone… AJAX over cell? He’s showing scrolling on a satellite map. google.com/glm
4:27 I’m noticing Page sounds sort of like Ernie from Sesame Street…
(The rest, after the jump…)
Click to continue reading Live From CES: Larry Page Keynote Address Liveblog
Live From CES: DualCor Mobile Computer
Posted by Chris Cardinal Categories: CES, CES 2006, Handhelds, Internet, PC / Laptop,
CES affords us the opportunity to see many new and wonderful devices that will never make it to market. Fortunately, the DualCor cPC isn’t one of those. The Dual Cor is a relatively small form-factor, full-fledged mobile PC. It sports a 1.5 GHz processor (and another, lower speed chip), 40 GB HD and 1 GB of DDR memory. Its namesake is highlighted by two separate processors running two separate operating systems. The 1.5 GHz x86 processor runs Windows XP Tablet Edition. From the XP interface, you can switch cores and OSes to Windows Mobile 2005, allowing you to run your box considerably longer and allowing it to function on the road as a normal PDA (and, potentially, a cell phone).
The device is absolutely loaded with features, including Bluetooth, WiFi, EVDO, a headphone & microphone jack, a CF II slot, two full USB 2.0 ports and the ability to export to a regular VGA display at 1280x1024 resolution. It also features a touchscreen and utilizes the Tablet architecture for easy data entry on the go. The device is expected to ship in March 2006 for roughly $1500, which is a steal if you ask us.
Andru will have a full video interview with the DualCor CEO up as soon as we figure out an elegant way to get them off his camcorder.
The Top 5 Tech & Gadget Blogs You (Probably) Haven’t Heard Of
Posted by Chris Cardinal Categories: Features, Internet,
Throughout the year, we link to hundreds of different articles, reviews, rumors, gossip and the occasional porn by way of other blogs. We like to give credit, so you’ll generally see another link next to the Read More option on a post, sending you back to whomever tipped us off.
Today, I’d like to bring your attention to my five favorite gadget and tech blogs. You may have heard of a few of them, and a few others may be new to you, but all of them are definitely worth checking out. My picks, after the jump.
Click to continue reading The Top 5 Tech & Gadget Blogs You (Probably) Haven’t Heard Of
Microsoft and MTV Team Up On Urge Music Service
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Internet, Music, Software,
Look out y’all, yet another digital audio download service is on the horizon, this it is a result of a joint venture between Microsoft and MTV. The service, dubbed “Urge,” will likely be integrated into the next release of Windows Media Player, and will offer over 2 million songs from major and independent artists, as well as original MTV content in both audio and video form. No word on pricing just yet.
Read More | Reuters
Earlier today, CNN unveiled their new broadband subscription service, dubbed “CNN Pipeline.” The service offers video news and access to the CNN news archives. “This is another evolution of CNN.com and our commitment to bring people the latest news at their command,” says a senior vice president at CNN, to, um, CNN. The service costs $2.95 a month or $24.95 a year.
Read More | TV Envy
So Firefox 1.5 is available now, and every Firefox user is excited about the upgrade. If you are running a Mac, you should check out the Firefox versions which are optimized for your specific processor. I have been running the G5 optimized version for a couple of days now, and the difference is certainly apparent. It is more stable and responsive than the official 1.5 Mac OS X release.
Read More | G5 Optimized Firefox 1.5
Read More | G4 Optimized Firefox 1.5
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